List of characters in Bottom

Below is description of the characters in the 1990s BBC British sitcom Bottom.

Richie & Eddie

Richard "Richie" Richard is a perpetually optimistic dimwit, while Edward "Eddie" Hitler is a cheerfully violent dipsomaniac. Their arguments often lead to exaggerated, destructive fight scenes. Some have likened this to a live action cartoon. However, the boisterousness is somewhat more graphic: examples include heads slammed in and under refrigerators; hands stapled to tables; legs being chainsawed off; genitalia slammed in doors or set on fire; fingers cut off; televisions smashed over heads; darts, forks, or fingers ending up in eyes; faces shoved in camp fires; legs broken or teeth knocked out. Some of the visual effects used for these events are very realistic, whereas others are deliberately fake. All are accompanied by a variety of over-the-top sound effects. The BBFC has given the Bottom: The Complete Series DVD a classification of 15, with a violence rating of "None".

Richie is known to be a virgin (Eddie stole Richie's only ever "girlfriend", Ethel Cardue, and sometimes torments Richie with how he had sex with her), with a microscopic penis (which he sometimes mistakes for his only pube). However in the episode 'Digger' he almost has sex with an allegedly wealthy foreign countess, Lady Natasha Letitia Sarah Jane Wellesley Obstromsky Ponsonsky Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Oblomov Boblomov Dob, after he and Eddie join a dating agency. Natasha agrees to marry Richie, much to his delight and he is totally oblivious to the fact that she is marrying him because she thinks he is a millionaire and she has lost her entire fortune. Towards the end of the episode, as Richie moves in to have sex with Lady Natasha he has an apparent heart attack, and is rushed to hospital. Whilst waiting for the ambulance, Eddie claims to have had sex with Lady Natasha, as he did Ethel (although in the episode 'Terror' in season three, Eddie looks distinctly nervous when Richie informs him that the Devil drinks virgin's blood).

Richard also tends to believe that any woman who does not fancy him must be a lesbian. He is also unsure of the decade, claiming in the same episode (Carnival), that it is both the 80s and then 70s later on- with a bemused Eddie looking to the camera after Richie mentions it's the 80s after all. Richie usually wears a white shirt (tucked into his Y-fronts) and slim black tie (with tie clip), blue jeans (with a belt that clearly misses most of the loops) and has a light brown raincoat when outdoors. He also occasionally wears brown trousers, held up with braces, and a red tie. His character is aspirational, pretentious, and occasionally a snob.

Eddie is a cheerfully violent alcoholic (he claims that this is because he "drinks a lot"). He wears glasses akin to those of Eric Morecambe, a brown suit and a white shirt with a black spotted tie (Which he tucks inside his trousers) on closer inspection one can see that eddie's suit jacket and trousers have several stains and frey's. Despite having a shaven head, he sports sideburns. He also has a brown trilby hat and a tweed coat. He has two real friends, called Spudgun (Steve O'Donnell) and Dave Hedgehog (Christopher Ryan) who has a wife called Susan and a daughter named Doreen who appeared in the episode " Terror" . Richie does not have any friends and sometimes appropriates Spudgun and Dave if in need of company, even though he despises them (particularly Spudgun) and considers them beneath him. Eddie is also revealed to be a Queen's Park Rangers fan, as in "Holy", he sprayed the letters "QPR" on the wall with spray snow, and in "Dough", you can see QPR banners on his bedroom wall.

Richie and Eddie bear perhaps closer inspection than any of Mayall and Edmondson's other characters. Despite sharing a deep mutual hatred, the two are eternally entwined due to their basic flaws and they seem to have an unspoken respect for each other as a result. Eddie's alcoholism and violent nature mean that he has not been able to hold down a steady job since his very short-lived career as a "bunny girl", back in 1978, and it is unlikely that any landlord would grant him tenancy, even if he could afford the rent. He is therefore forced to rely upon Richie's charity. Richie, on the other hand, is such a pompous, self-obsessed, perverted, wittering soul that, without Eddie, it is unlikely that he would make another friend. The two have an unspoken acceptance of their interdependence and their relationship tends to fluctuate between acting like a married couple (filling in the crossword together, Richie putting an unconscious Eddie to bed every night), a mother and son (Richie often keeping Eddie 'in check' and scolding him, and often putting an end to his fun, often out of sheer spite even though Richie would like to indulge himself) and frustrated (often violent) desperation: so much so that both have attempted suicide — Eddie drinking bleach (drunkenly) and Richie drinking poisoned milk and trying to gas himself in the oven (an attempt at "guilting" Eddie into buying him a drink). In fact, both men have died in numerous episodes, only to resurface unharmed the following episode. This partnership has similarities to those of Steptoe and Son, and Hancock and Sid in Hancock's Half Hour.

Richie is in heavy denial and has delusions of grandeur. He once tried to convince a Falklands ex-serviceman that he had fought ten years there, seizing the fictitious "Straud Hill" and liberated the Stanley branch of Tesco). Eddie, in comparison is grounded and seems to have quite good general knowledge, which he keeps to himself. He can play chess (and spends seven hours trying, unsuccessfully, to teach Richie), he knows a fair amount about Napoleon and Wellington (who Richie claims invented the Chelsea Boot) and appears well versed in the works of Vivaldi, (whom Richie believes to be a football player). Eddie is also a great one for plans - though most involve trying to get a free pint from Dick Head, the landlord at the Lamb and Flag. One such scheme, in the episode "Dough", involved Eddie printing counterfeit money, which he plasters with pornographic doodles of the Royal Family and other such celebrities (on the £5 the Queen "gets her jugs out", on the £10 note there is an orgy involving Meryl Streep, the Duke of Edinburgh and Bobby Charlton, and on the £27 note there is a picture of Sylvester Stallone "fisting" Mr MacHenry from The Magic Roundabout.

Richie and Eddie's relatives are often mentioned: Richie's grandad was at the Battle of the Somme, while Eddie's uncle used to work in a prison, (really a prisoner) peeling potatoes, sewing mailbags and doing 'anything they told him to do'. Richie's auntie is very rich and dies in one episode with her nephew inheriting a large sum of money. Richie's dad, Oswald Richard, was an acquaintance of Adolf Hitler and betrayed Britain in World War II. According to Richie, his dad moved in mysterious circles, because he had one leg shorter than the other. Richie's sister lives near Hammersmith and apparently looks just like her brother, albeit "with smaller jugs". Eddie's mother was a wrestler named "Adolf Hitler" who abandoned him when he was young leaving him her old service revolver and a note saying "Please look after my baby, I can't be bothered".

Minor and One-off characters

* Spudgun Steve O'Donnell: One of Eddie's slobbish and unemployable friends.
* Dave Hedgehog (Christopher Ryan): One of Eddie's friends. As seen in "Terror", he has a daughter by the name of Doreen.
* Dick Head (Lee Cornes): The landlord of the Lamb and Flag, Richie and Eddie's regular pub. Dick is one that usually doesn't get on well with both Richie and Eddie, because of the arguments over the tabs and payments for alcohol. His appearances were in "Smells", "Parade" and "Dough".
* Mr. Harrison (Roger Sloman): Richie and Eddie's flat landlord and shopkeeper. His only appearances were in "'s Up" and "Holy".
*Veronica Head (Julia Sawalha): The beautiful young barmaid at the Lamb and Flag, whom Richie tries to woo by boasting of his false adventures at the Falklands. She later turns out to be the niece of Dick Head and has been conspiring against Richie from the start. She only appeared in the episode "Parade".
*Lady Natasha Letitia Sarah Jane Wellesley Extrong Skiponsong Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Oblomov Boblomov Dob, third Viscountess of Moldavia (Helen Lederer): A foreign countess Richie met through Lily Linneker's Love Bureau. Richie posed as the Duke of Kidderminster to secure a date with her. She agreed to marry him and unwittingly admitted that she'd lost her entire fortune in a civil war and had to marry soon lest she be penniless forever. She appears in "Digger".
*Falklands ex-serviceman (Robert Llewellyn): The Falklands ex-serviceman was in the Lamb and Flag, who asks questions to Richie about his false adventures at the Falklands. After this Richie and Eddie find out he has a wooden leg which is quite valuable and decide to steal it and take to the pawn shop to bet on a horse. He appears in "Parade".